Kagami's Quest
by astrojensen
Summary: Kagami and Konata are returning home from a successful treasure hunt, when something goes terribly wrong. Can Kagami overcome the mountains of problems she must face?
1. Chapter 1

The usual disclaimer: I don't own the characters from Lucky Star. I merely borrow them for my own non-profit pleasure, because I love them.

The story is set in a fantasy universe, complete with trolls and magic and such. No dragons and tall people with long ears, though, and no orcs either. There's plenty of potential for evil in humans. The unusual setting is an experiment, just to see if it could be pulled off.

Astrojensen

* * *

**Kagami's Quest**

Chapter one: The Picnic

Far away, I'm not sure where, (and if I did, I would be there instead of here) there exists a world, like ours used to be, with hot deserts and wind-blown oceans. Lofty mountains and vast forrests.

People like us inhabit this world, building villages, kingdoms and empires. They wage war over important things like love and unimportant ones like treasures, politics and personal grudges. Just like we do. It is a world of brave warriors and evil villains, magic and wonders. And it is in this world we find our heroines, as they struggle their way over a foggy mountain.

Their capes, armor and most clothes were soaked from walking in the heavy fog and light drizzle all morning. They were going uphill on a steep trail and the fog had been getting heavier all the time. The forrest around them was eerily silent, apart from drops of water falling from the pines and firs. Only the closest trees were visible, the more distant ones were just gray shadows in the fog.

There was no sound except the dripping water, their footsteps and the clatter of their packhorse's shoes on the partly rocky trail. From their slender shapes and their voices, it was evident that both were girls. One of them was very small and carried a staff and a brown robe over her clothes, a wizard's trademark. She had the hood of her robe pulled down over her head, but some blue hair fell down over her chest.

The other was tall and had long purple hair, which she had tied up in two pigtails. She wore a black armor and carried a long broadsword at her right side. She had the reins of the packhorse in her left hand. Both were young, not over twenty years old, but their excact age was of course not revealed merely by their appearances. If you listened to their voices, you could hear them arguing about where the heck they were.

"Buying that map from the innkeeper isn't the best idea you ever had," the wizard pointed out. "We're lost again, right?"

"Oh, shut up," the warrior replied. "It's not as if the one you got from that merchant was much better! Besides, we're not lost!"

"Oh, that's good news, and my map did take us to the abandoned tower of the wizard Kerrhoum, didn't it?"

"I'm fairly sure that that was plain dumb luck on your part, and it never mentioned all the traps, did it? Or the hordes of undead the ghost of old Kerrhoum summoned to hunt us down? Abandoned my butt!"

"The map I got was from before he died, so naturally it couldn't tell about traps set up after that by his apprentice. Besides, he wasn't exactly a hospitable fellow when he was alive, from what I've heard."

"I can imagine, having seen his ghost!"

The blue-haired wizard laughed.

"He! To return to our dire situation," the wizard suddenly said in a overly dramatic voice. "Where do you think this trail is leading?"

"Well, it's not running right over the mountain, but in a half-circle around it. From what I can infer by comparing our two newest maps, plus our other ones, I think our town is two or three days away, once we get around the mountain. On the other side, there should be a river with a road on the far side, leading to our town. We'll have to find a way to cross the river once we get on the other side of the mountain."

"Do you think there'll be a ferry?"

"Most likely not. A ford, probably."

"So my feet will be wet and cold?"

"It's a tough life, huh?"

"Couldn't you carry me across?"

"What? No! Absolutely not!"

"Pleeeease!"

"No!"

"Awww..."

They walked a bit in silence, when the warrior suddenly called out:

"Konata! Look, the path is leveling out. I think we're near the top! Soon it should be going downhill!"

"Good! My legs feel like they're worn down completely!"

The small wizard sat down in a spot of wet grass and pulled the hood back, revealing more of her blue hair and an ahoge on top of her head.

"It's not as if there was much to wear down in the first place!"

The taller girl in armor looked at her friend with a smile. She was almost a head taller than her blue-haired companion and their difference in physical size was a source of constant teasing between them.

"Uhh! Not fair, Kagami! Picking on those smaller than yourself!"

The tall girl laughed. "Right, let's take a break now. The horse needs it as well, right old boy?"

The horse snorted and looked at Kagami, as if it understood perfectly. Perhaps he did.

"OK, it's decided then. I can see a small brook about fifty yards away, crossing the trail. Let's stop there."

"I can't move another step, much less get up now!"

Konata laid down on her back, her left arm over her face in a theatrical position. Kagami was not affected at all, and took just one look at the blue-haired wizard girl, followed by a snort. She knew very well that Konata was very athletic and far from as tired as she sounded.

"Well, I guess the horse and I can make it back to the town on our own..."

Kagami began to walk towards the small brook.

"Kagami, at least help me up."

Konata held her left arm up, waiting for Kagami to grab it and help her up.

"No, you're the one who wanted this "little trip". Show some responsibility and get up yourself."

"Ah, so that is your true nature! Evil woman! Leaving your exhausted friend behind to a certain doom, starving and lonely."

Kagami walked on, whistling a little melody. Konata sighed and got up.

"Oy, wait for me, Kagamin!"

Kagami just smiled to herself. It was not often she could win this easily.

They unloaded some of their luggage from the packhorse, so he could rest a little and Kagami gave him a small portion of oats from a small sack.

"Sorry, old boy, but that's all there is, if we want the rest to last for a couple more days. Our journey turned out to be a bit longer than we anticipated!"

The horse snorted and began to eat leaves from a small birch tree.

"At least he can find something to eat up here," said Konata. "We haven't got much left ourselves, and we haven't seen much wildlife up here, save for small birds and crows."

"Yeah, the last couple of winters have been hard. Most wildlife starved to death and hungry farmers ate most of the rest."

Kagami shuddered a bit by the memory of the extremely harsh winters. Many poor people had shared the same fate as the wildlife and starved to death. Many others had used all their money to buy food from the merchants from the southern lands. The resulting poverty was what had driven the young girls out into the wilderness on a risky adventure, to try finding a treasure rumored to be located in a remote and abandoned tower. Kagami turned to her companion:

"What do we have left to eat?"

"A few of those dreadful stone breads and two more pieces of dried meat!"

Konata looked at the stone bread with disgust written all over her face.

Kagami smiled.

"Let's eat the meat now. Once we get to the river, I am sure I can shoot a trout with my bow."

"Yay! A hot meal would be nice for sure! Now just don't scorch it like the rabbit!"

"Why, you..! You can cook it then!"

"Sure! Cooking a meal for my Kagamin is a pleasure!"

Konata looked at her friend with her large green eyes. She had a glint in them that made Kagami blush, for some reason. This had happened quite often recently.

"Do- don't say it in such an embarrasing way!"

"Aww, it's not like there's anyone who can hear us anyway," Konata said. "Apart from the horse..."

It was as Kagami had said. The trail was going downwards now, and the jorney got easier. As they went down into the valley, the fog lifted little by little and soon they were walking in the light from the sinking Sun. By the time the Sun was two handwidths over the horizon, they could hear the river. Soon, they stood on the riverside, between the birches and willows that grew so richly in the lower parts of the forrest. The trail lead right into the river. There was apparently a ford here, but the river was flowing awfully fast and looked deep – and cold. The water was a bit muddy, so the bottom wasn't visible.

"Well, finding the way across the river was not so hard," Konata commented, when she saw the trail leading into the river. "The only problem: The road is on the bottom of it! And no ferry in sight."

"It's wider than I thought," Kagami said, biting her lip. "I wonder if we can get across here or if we should move upstream and try to find a shallower ford. The stream looks bad. The snowfall in the mountains was heavy this winter and all the rain of late hasn't made it better. The river is deeper than usual, even for this time of year."

"Well, I don't want to walk another yard today anyway!"

"Right. I'll see if I can catch a fish. You set up a camp and make a fire."

"Yes master!"

Konata bowed, like a servant. Kagami sighed. Konata was hopeless. Always teasing the world around her.

Kagami walked for a little while along the river, until she found a calm spot a bit downstream. Here the water was clear and steady, and it didn't take long before she spotted a large trout under a tree trunk. She had her special fishing arrow on the bow, tied to a very thin, but strong line. The line hung loose on her left index finger as she bend her bow with her right hand. She was left-handed, which was very unusual for an archer, but she was as good a marksman as most of them.

She carefully studied the water and the shadows under the treetrunks. There!

She let the arrow fly. Even before it hit the water, she knew she had got her prey and jumped into the low water. A large trout is strong, and if she wasn't fast, it could get away with her precious arrow. She grabbed the arrow above the fish, so it couldn't slide off the arrow. The head was barbed, so it couldn't slide off that way. When she got it up, she happily noted that it was a big one. Bigger than she had first estimated. There would be more than enough for the both of them.

When she came back, Konata had collected a bit of wood, made a fire and was preparing sticks to fry the fish on. Apparently, she didn't doubt her friends ability to catch one, which made Kagami smile. Konata always teased her, and Kagami always lectured the lazy and sometimes embarrasingly poor-mannered Konata, but they also trusted each other to the end of the world. Konata had also hung their small tarpaulin on a thin rope between two trees. Stones and sharp sticks stuck through holes along the edge of the tarpaulin kept the edges to the ground. It wasn't much of a tent, but real tents were expensive and the old, dirt gray tarpaulin, with the countless stains of varying colors, had a surprising ability to blend in with a wide range of surroundings, which had saved their life more than once already. Konata had cut down a lot of dry grass and spread it on the ground inside the tent. They could sleep quite comfortably tonight. Kagami left the fish to Konata and walked about a hundred feet up the trail. Their camp couldn't be seen from the trail and the fire wasn't making much smoke. Perfect!

"Still need to check, huh?"

Konata stopped working on the frying stick and looked sternly at Kagami when she returned.

"I am not a beginner anymore!"

Kagami looked flustered at Konata. She had not intended to insult her friend. Old habits just don't die easily.

"I just.."

"You're cute when you blush!" Konata interrupted with a big smile.

"Wha..."

Kagami was speechless for a moment. Konata continued working on the stick, correcting some invisible detail with the knife. Her smile just grew.

"Just teasing you!"

Kagami didn't need Konata to explain that to her, but she wondered why Konata had to choose all those embarrasing topics to tease her with lately.

The hot trout was a feast after a week on stone bread and dried meat. Konata had also found some mushrooms on the way down the mountain, even if it wasn't the season. It must have been due to all the rain. Both were grilled over the fire on sticks. The late spring Moon hung high in the evening sky, near first quarter. It was clear and was going to be a cold night. Even a night in late May could be bitterly cold in the mountains. The stars were slowly coming out. Their horse was snorting in the background, munching on the abundant grass and leaves near the river, fighting with the occasional early fly or mosquito. The world slowly got quiet, as the choir of birds went to sleep. A few moths circled around the fire.

Kagami had taken off her armor, except the heavy felt shirt and felt trousers she wore underneath the steel plates and chain mail. She had wrapped a blanket around her to stay warm, as had Konata. Kagami was busy oiling some of the leather straps that kept the armor together, to keep them soft and flexible. Konata was sitting next to her, reading a thick book. She would flip through the pages, reading a little here and there.

_"It is almost like one of those picknicks we used to have when we were younger,"_ Kagami thought, as she looked at Konata.

Back then she would also always be reading books, but then usually those cheap thrash action novels about heroes and stuff. Some of them had drawings in them, some more than others, and they could be found in cheap bookstores in the large town a half days worth of travel down the river. Konata would use all the money she made as a waitress on them, which made Kagami worry about the economic future of the young mage. Kagami stopped polishing and just looked at her friend. Despite all the faults of said friend, Kagami really cared about the young blue-haired girl.

Konata looked up on Kagami, who immediately looked away and began to polish with considerable vigour. Had she noticed her staring on her? If so, she didn't let Kagami know in any way.

"Some fat loot we found this time, right?" Konata smiled.

"Yeah, is that one of the books you found in the tower?"

Kagami was slightly taken aback by the sudden switch of topics, though she had to admit the topic-change was only taking place in her own head, as Konata hadn't talked about anything.

"It is. It is one of ol' Kerrhoums personal notebooks!"

"Wow! Can you read it?"

"Yeah, but many of the spells and even the potion recipes are much more advanced than I am capable of handling right now. Haven't got nearly enough magic strength or skills yet."

"Can you use any of it?"

"Yeah, there's a few attack spells, which I might be able to use."

"I look forward to see them!" Kagami said with a smile, continuing to polish the beautiful armor she had found in the tower.

It was truly something else than the old chainmail and hodgepodge of plate parts she had used to use. As if she could read Kagami's thoughts, Konata came with another of those comments that had confused Kagami lately.

"You look really hot in that black armor." Konata smiled.

"Thanks." Kagami polished on for a second, then stopped abruptly.

"What? _Hot_?"

She looked at her friend, stunned. What was that blue-haired midget saying now?

Konata's eyes seemed to glow in the darkness. If it was from within or from reflections from the fire, Kagami wasn't sure. She blushed heavily and looked away, which surprised her. What was happening between them lately?

"Yeah, you know, before with all those random pieces, you looked like a gray mule in armor."

"What? WHAT? A MULE??! Kagami turned towards Konata, she felt her infamous temper boiling up.

Konata continued in a tone as if she was talking about everyday matters.

"Now you look more like one of the black race horses from the desert nomads, that the emperor holds in his stables." Konata's eyes were aglow in the darkness.

Kagami felt her blood rush, first in anger, but then for a different reason as she realized what Konata had really meant. Those horses was the envy of any horseman and cost more each, than most people could earn in a lifetime. All she could say was:

"Oh! Oi, do- don't compare me to a horse!"

And that was just a whisper. Konata still looked at her, smiling. Kagami blushed even more and looked away, feverishly polishing on her armor. What was it with her? A month ago, such remarks from Konata would have resulted in a slap at the back of her head, but Kagami found it increasingly difficult to be really mad at the always teasing and joking Konata. Instead she had found herself staring at her short friend a lot recently. Sometimes, she couldn't even really tell what she had been thinking of, but she was very embarassed by it.

Kagami felt Konata move beside her, and as she looked back, Konata sat with her back to the fire, looking at the stars in the southwest. Her long bluish hair flowing down her neck and back like a waterfall. Kagami felt her face turn warm and red again. She wanted to touch that hair, let her fingers run through it. She could smell Konata, ever so faintly, in the quiet air. What? Again? Why was she feeling like that? They had been friends for many years. Friends! That's all! Why those feelings now of a sudden?

Konata yawned loudly, which brought Kagami out of her trance.

"I'm going to hit the sack. Don't worry about keeping watch. I've set up a number of magic tripwires around our camp. Only a high-level wizard can get in here without us notice. Besides, ol' boy down by the river will tell us if some bear or wolves get within a couple hundred yards."

As if he heard, the horse snorted in the distance.

Konata went in under the tarpaulin and rummaged around a little. A moment later, a faint glow shone inside it. Konata had turned a magic light on, which meant she was reading something.

"No reading to late at night!" Kagami said with a low voice. "We have a long way to go tomorrow and a river to cross."

"Yeah, yeah," was the only answer.

Even if she didn't doubt the effectivity of her friends boobytraps, Kagami sat for a while, staring into the fire, trying to get a hold of her feelings. After a while of mostly confused thoughts, she looked at the tent and saw that the glow from Konatas reading light was gone. She was sound asleep, judging by the low snoring. Kagami covered her armor with the old canvas she had used for her previous armor and put it inside the tent, at her feet. She rolled herself into the blanket next to Konata, with her sword inside the blanket and a knife in one hand. That was the way she had always slept in the wilderness and the way she was always going to, boobytraps and magic tripwires notwithstanding.


	2. Chapter 2

Kagami's Quest

Chapter two: The River.

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The next morning Kagami woke up somewhat dizzy. She remembered just having a nice dream, but wasn't quite sure what it had been about. She felt warm and comfortable. Was the sun already that high? She tried to get up, but something heavy was on her lower chest and belly and she was wrapped in her blankets in a unusual way, somehow. She got up on her elbows and looked down towards her feet.

"What..?"

That heavy something on her was Konata, clinging to her with her head on her stomach, snoring like a pig and salivating on Kagami's felt shirt.

"What? Konata! What are you doing? Wake up, you bum!"

Konata woke up and smiled.

"Good morning, Kagamin! You were sleeping uneasy and having bad dreams. You had also thrown away your blanket. I decided to keep you warm and cozy!"

Konata said it, as if it was the most natural thing in the world to snuggle up with your best friend like that.

Bad dreams? Kagami put her head back and looked up and tried to remember. Had she had bad dreams? She only remembered the good feeling from the nice dream she just had before she woke up. A bad dream? Yeah, there seemed to be a vague memory of something terrible in the back of her head. She shook her head, trying to loose the feeling, even if she couldn't remember the dream.

All these speculations made Kagami completely forget the fact that her best friend was snuggling up against her. At least until Konata put her head back down on Kagami's stomach and let out a yawn, like a cat in a sunbeam. She hugged Kagami a little tighter and snuggled closer.

"Hey!"

Kagami's speculations about fuzzy dreams stopped. They were both fully dressed under the blankets, but Kagami could still feel Konata's body through it all and her own body was very aware of that fact. She blushed and suddenly started to sweat.

"Get off me, you clingy little..." Kagami didn't finish the sentence. "I need to get up!"

"Awww. You're so big and soft and warm and nice, and it's such a cold morning."

"Are you calling me fat? Move! I need to go... behind a tree somewhere!"

She pushed Konata aside, which resulted in some moaning sounds. She tried to crawl out of the tent, but Konata clinged to her right leg, nuzzling her head against it like a cat and making purring sounds. Kagami turned around and sat on her behind, so she could use her left leg to push the clingy girl back into the tent, by setting a foot on her left shoulder.

"Get...of...me," she said, as she tried to push Konata away, "I really need to... go behind that tree!"

Konata finally gave up, and Kagami got up quickly, before Konata could grab her leg again and left, leaving the smiling girl behind, who now wrapped herself in both blankets.

She needed to go to the river. A bit of cold water in the face would do her good. She remembered the good dream again. And Konata, which had also been in it... And just now. She needed that cold water now. Perhaps it would help her get her heartbeat under control. Kagami could still feel Konata's hands around her leg, even if it had been through the felt trousers. It had not been an unpleasant feeling.

After going behind a bush, to do what most people has to do in the morning, Kagami went to the river to get washed a little. She immediately noticed that the water level was lower than in the evening. It was also cleaner. She washed her face and hands in the cold water near where she caught the trout. As she tied up her hair in her trademark pigtails, she heard a sudden sound behind her, and turned around. Konata stood on a rock, just fifteen feet away.

"Did I scare you, Kagamin?"

Kagami couldn't tell what Konata's smile meant, but she was very surprised that Konata had managed to sneak in on her like that. Stealth was not the forte of the midget wizard. More like the opposite. She usually liked spells with really loud sounds the most, like exploding fireballs. How long had she been watching her? Kagami decided to play it cool, though she blushed a little, simply by the thought of being observed like that.

"I just never expected to see you up so soon, that's all. I mean, it's not even noon yet!"

Kagami continued to tie her hair in her trademark pigtails, waiting for the expected feigned insult upon her teasing. It never came. Instead, Konata's casually worded reply almost made Kagami loose her balance and fall into the river.

"My bed is cold without you, and I felt lonely. I could just as well get up."

The hinted-at wanted intimacy left Kagami speechless. She couldn't find words, so she just stared at Konata for a moment. Her hands stopped tying the bow on the band she was trying to put around her left pigtail. To make matters worse, Kagami's body told her mind that it wanted some more snuggling with Konata as well. Her mind wanted to tell her body to shut up, but it seemed to have lost its voice in the shock.

Konata also seemed to wait for an expected reaction, but when it didn't come, she jumped down from the rock. She walked the few feet to the river, where she kneeled down and began to splash cold water in her face, making bubbling and snorting sounds in the process.

The morning was sunny and birds were singing as if their life depended on it. They ate the rest of the trout and mushrooms for breakfast. Konata made a tea from pine needles which was surprisingly refreshing, if somewhat bitter. Before breaking down the camp, they went down and looked at the river. Konata looked at it and sighed.

"Still no ferry. I will send a complain to the emperor. The rivers in his empire are terribly poorly equipped. You have a hard time finding either ferries or bridges."

"Good luck. I wouldn't wait for a gold-trimmed letter in response."

"You don't think I would do it?"

"Oh, you probably will, if I don't stop you. Strangely, in matters like those, you're somehow filled with energy all of a sudden."

"Am I not always?"

"When you're having fun, yes. Otherwise, you're a lazy bum!"

"Kagamin! You're hurting my feelings!"

Kagami felt a sting of guilt. Perhaps she had been too harsh. She never did get to apologize, before Konata offered her a way to do so:

"As an apology, I think it would be fair, if you carried me across the river!"

"What? No way! We already had that discussion!"

"But Kagamiiiin! My legs are so short, and the river is sooo deep!"

Konata stretched out her arms, to show Kagami, just how deep she thought the river was. Kagami folded her arms and looked sternly at Konata.

"I'm not going to do it. Period. Even if you're smaller than me, you're too heavy."

"Then I can ride on the horse!"

"No. He's almost overloaded as it is."

Konata was running out of options. She pouted.

"My poor feet are going to be cold," she said, as she had done when they first inspected the river.

Kagami laughed and rustled Konata's hair, without thinking about it.

"It's a tough life, huh? I guess you didn't realize, that was one of the disadvantages of being an adventurer."

Kagami's hand on Konata's hair seemed to have a remarkable effect. The pouting Konata suddenly looked up and brightened in a smile. Kagami didn't notice at once, but pointed at the river:

"Look, at least the water level has fallen quite a bit since last evening. We can at least make it across and be home soon."

"As long as you're with me."

"Huh?"

Konata turned to Kagami and smiled. A honest smile, without teasing.

"You said, wet feet was one of the disadvantages of being an adventurer. I said, that as long as you're with me, wet feet doesn't matter."

It took a few seconds for the words to sink into Kagami, but the result was not so long in taking effect. She turned red as a beet in one second flat.

"S- such an embarrasing... thing to say."

Konata was apparently in a bright mood now and smiled.

"Shall we prepare for the crossing, Kagamin?"

"Ye- yeah, sure."

They packed up and prepared for the crossing. Kagami had not donned her armor this morning and had instead packed it securely on the old horse, together with her felt trousers. She then tied a rope around her waist, which she then tied around Konata's waist and then to the horses pack saddle. Konata, who was also just in a shirt and shoes, having taken off her robe and trousers and packed them on the horse, looked at Kagami with a big smile.

Kagami looked at Konata, entirely misunderstanding the reason her friend was smiling, and explained:

"If one of us should fall, the horse and the other should be able to hold her, so one of us isn't lost in the river. I doubt that the horse will fall, but if so, we might need to cut the rope fast. Keep your knife ready!"

"I know all that, Kagami," Konata replied with a smile. "I just found it amusing that you have now tied us together for real..."

Kagami looked at the rope for a moment, before she realized, exactly what Konata was talking about.

"I have waited for this moment, Kagamin!"

"What? Oy! What _is_ it with you and those embarrasing remarks lately?"

They walked slowly out into the river. The ford was not nearly as deep as Kagami had feared. It only reached up to just over her knees. The water was incredibly cold. She gasped, but knew they had to move on. Their feet were soon numb with cold and the stones slippery and treacherous.

"Kagami!"

Konata's voice was not that of the usual self-assured wizard.

Kagami turned around and discovered to her horror and embarrasment that she had forgot how short her companion was. The water reached up to the middle of Konata's thighs or even a little higher, making her much more unstable and prone to falling.

"Konata, grab my hand!"

Kagami felt a sting of panic and suddenly recalled a feeling from the bad dream she had had that night. Just a feeling, but a very strong one. A feeling of endless pain and loneliness.

Kagami reached out and grabbed Konata's outstretched hand. She pulled her towards herself and grabbed her around the back with her own left hand and held Konata towards her own right side, which was downstream. She steadied the tiny girl. Konata looked at Kagami for a moment, but remained silent, which was unlike her. She was a bit pale, Kagami noticed. Perhaps disaster had been closer than Konatas voice had indicated. They walked on in silence.

After the crossing, which had probably not taken more than five minutes, they rested on the other side and made a big fire. Both were freezing and Konatas legs were blue from cold. The water had been icy.

"Remind me, I've got to practice on levitation and staff flying when we get back!"

Konata was standing close to the fire, shaking with cold. Her voice was shaking as well, and her teeth chattered, making her sqeaky voice sound even funnier than usual.

"I am glad you have that staff that can at least make fire and light. We would be in trouble without it sometimes."

"Yeah, but I wish I could fly on it. It would be practical, for such as today."

"You'll just need to study a bit harder."

"Uh, don't say the S-word, Kagami."

"Study, study, study!"

"Uaargh! Evil words, begone!"

Konata ran around the fire, holding her hands over her ears. Kagami laughed. Konata hated studying more than anything else and Kagami loved to remind her that she needed to do it, if she wanted to become as great as she dreamed about. There was no doubt about her talent, but she was hopelessly lazy. If she really wanted to, she could master a spell in a very short time, but she often lacked the motivation to study, so her repetoire of spells consisted of mostly basic stuff and a few quite impressive (loud and flashy) ones, that she had found interesting enough to actually put some work in. And then she spent a lot of her time reading flashy novels about magic and heroes and stuff.

"I guess," Kagami pointed out, "that if you hate studying so much, then you shouldn't have chosen to become a wizard, who needs to study spells and such."

Konata stopped running and looked at Kagami.

"It wasn't a choice. It is in my blood! I need to do awesome things! I am the Blue Dragon!"

"More like the Blue Lizard..."

"Uuuh! Not fair! True size is not measure in body height, Kagami!"

"Be thankful for that!"

"On the other hand, if true greatness was measure in pounds, then you'd surely be empre..."

"Don't finish that sentence, if you value your life, Little Dragon!"

They rested and warmed up for a little while, drinking more hot pine needle tea. They were almost out of stone bread, but shared one. They sat close to one another on a blanket next to the fire.

"It's not so bad if you dip it into the tea," Kagami said, after watching Konata making faces at the stone bread again, sticking her tongue at it.

"It's still stone bread. I'm tired of it. I want a real meal, with rice and freshly baked bread, smoking hot from the oven. Or perhaps even one of Takamachi's cakes!"

"Stop talking about that, you're making me hungry! We're still three days from the town at least, and at least one and a half days from the nearest village."

"Don't remind me about it!"

"Well, the town's not going to come to us, so let's pack the stuff once more and move on."

They began packing the horse, and Kagami put on all her armor, which the horse had been carrying while they crossed the river. It would have dragged her underwater if she fell, had she been wearing it. She also took her bow and quiver with war arrows. The armor piercing ones. Her broadsword by her side, a long knife in her belt. She did it without thinking, but Konata noticed.

"Preparing for the third empire war, Kagamin?"

"Wha.? No, I just, uh, somehow.." Kagami suddenly noticed what she was doing.

"Got a feeling?" Konata continued. "Bad dreams last night?"

"Yeah, perhaps that's it."

She didn't tell Konata, but she couldn't shake the shadow of that ominous feeling from the bad dream and hadn't been able to since they crossed the river.

They walked on for a while. It soon got hot as the Sun crawled ever higher in the sky. Kagami began to regret she had donned her complete armor. Konata was unusually silent and something was tingling in the back of Kagamis neck, like if a bug was crawling under her helmet. She had also tied her hair up and stuffed it under the helmet, which had Konata raise an eyebrow. Kagami only did that when a fight was imminent. Two hours passed without incidents, so they took a break, but Kagami was still on her guard. Konata seemed not to worry about a thing, but was eerily silent, which alarmed Kagami more than anything else. They sat on a windfall in the shadow of the forest next to the road. Their horse ate from the lush grass and they drank a little water. Kagami leaned towards Konata and asked with a low voice:

"Konata."

"Hmm?"

"Can you feel... something?"

"Like what?"

"Like, we're being watched?"

"Uh, hu."

"For how long?"

"Couple of hours. Almost after we crossed the river."

"Can you see anything?"

"Nope."

"Magic?"

"I think so."

Half an hour later, it was all too clear for Kagami and Konata that someone – or something - was indeed watching them. The feeling in her neck just wouldn't go away. But she never saw anything. Whatever or whoever it was, they were damn good, which made her even more nervous. To make matters worse, the forest was very close to the narrow road here. She sighed in relief as the forest suddenly opened and they found themselves in a more open part, with some natural meadows on both sides of the road. Tall grass waved in the slight breeze. The distance to the treeline was now around 30 – 50 yards. They were not likely to be ambushed here.

But they were.

Suddenly, she saw it. No, she felt it and reacted even before she saw it, she realised to her surprise. About ten arrows came flying towards Konata from the treeline. How Kagami made it in time, she didn't know, but she jumped in front of Konata and protected her with her body. To her luck, she was wearing armor, but she hadn't thought about it. Several arrows hit her on the breast plate, where they bounced off or on the shoulder plates, from where they riccocheted to the sides. A few missed their target.

Konata didn't jump in surprise as Kagami might had imagined, had she had time to think about things like that, but cast a shield spell in front of them even before Kagami had stopped moving after being hit. Ten more arrows were headed straight towards them, but hit the magic shield seconds later and fell harmlessly to the ground a few yards in front of Konata and Kagami. Whoever had shot at them was experienced enough to go after the wizard first, instead of the stronger-looking warrior, or trying to take them both down at the same time. That was a bad sign, Kagami noted. Not good. They were not super-experienced in combat, though they had been trained for years back home. They had killed a few robbers or other bad guys in the last few years, but they had never faced a more experienced enemy.

Another ten arrows hit the shield and then another ten. Someone was trying to wear out the shield. Konata smiled. Kagami knew why. One can specialize a shield, and Konata had specialized her shields to deflect arrows, spears, stones and other physical objects. It was much less effective against magic missiles, since they always tried to avoid higher-ranking wizards as much as possible. Wearing Konatas shield out with arrows wasn't going to work unless their opponent had hundreds of archers, which Kagami doubted.

Suddenly, the rain of arrows stopped, which sent a chill down Kagami's spine. Could someone have seen through Konata's shield strategy already? If so, that wasn't good news at all.

"I see arrows isn't going to do the trick." A voice rung through the forest.

_Oh no, dear goddess!_ was Kagami's only thought. _A wizard!_

A slender man in a black robe with gold embroidery on the sleeves slowly walked out from the treeline. He waved his hand, and ten men came out from the forrest on each side of the road. And what was that behind the wizard? Heavenly mother of the stars! A troll! A troll bound by the spells the wizard had laid on it. Invisible chains, but much more effective than real ones. Only the wizard's order or his death could set it free, but as long as it was bound, it would defend the wizard with all its strength and follow every order he gave. She noticed as if through a haze that the horse got scared by the sight of the troll and ran away. This wizard was not a mere charlatan or amateur. This was a real wizard, and a strategist, to make matters worse. But why was he here? What did he want from them?


	3. Chapter 3

Kagami's Quest

Chapter three: The Wizard

* * *

"I see from your armor that you were indeed successful in getting into the tower!"

_How on earth did he knew about that?_ Kagami wondered. His voice was pleasant for the ears, but her soul felt the ice in it.

"Ah, but where are my manners?" He smiled and bowed ligthly.

"Allow me to introduce myself: I am Alaslaf Persouf, son of the great wizard Alstor Persouf, apprentice of the great wizard Habbou Kerrhoum!"

Kagami felt icy cold, despite the sweat on her forehead. If he was really the son of Kerrhoum's last apprentice, he could have access to powers beyond their imagination.

"I have long wished to get into the tower to retrieve the artifacts and knowledge left behind by old Kerrhoum, but was also aware of the many traps he set up. Fortunately, my father knew of most of them, but Kerrhoum was smart enough to send my father away on a bogus mission before he died. I sent out several adventurers and tomb raiders, but all got killed by the traps or chased away by the mere sight of old Kerrhoum's ghost and his undead army. I decided to wait out, and began to spread rumours of the wealth inside the tower, to lure adventurers there, in the hope they would eventually disable all the traps, or even get away with the artifacts! You are the first to be successful. Congratulations!"

He laughed, but it wasn't a happy, cheerful one. If a happy laugh from a friend feels like sunshine, the laughing of this man felt like a snowstorm.

"Oh," he added, "I was of course amused by watching your struggles to get into the tower. I have set up many magic devices around the tower, which allowed me to watch your every move."

Kagami's throat was dry. Not an ordinary wizard for sure.

"Now," Persouf continued, "I am of course very pleased with your work. You have even made it across the river for me. If you give me the artifacts, I will let you go. I am a reasonable man..."

He waved his hand in a gesture that should indicate generosity, but Kagami felt more like she was watching an emperor who had just ordered the beheading of his captured enemies. But how could they win, Kagami speculated. Doubt crept into her mind. Did they stand a chance? Was it better to do as he wanted? He had promised them that they could walk away... She swayed a little from side to side. She was being attacked mentally by Persouf, but she didn't realize it. His magic sneaked inside her head, trying to persuade her to give in to his demands.

"Kagami! Hey, Kagami!"

Konata grabbed her hand. Kagami woke up with a start and looked at Konata, who squeezed her hand and saw her friend looking up, pale white. Sweat was dripping from her face.

"Don't trust him," Konata said while still giving her friend's hand a reassuring squeeze. "He's lying! Even as he spoke, he attacked us mentally. He is strong, he'll kill us as soon we give him the loot."

"Konata...."

"I'm fine! I managed to kick him out of my head. Our only chance is to fight."

Persouf stared at them. His mental attack had failed. This was unusual, especially against someone so young and with relatively little experience. The blue-haired mage was stronger than he had thought.

"I'll get you soon, you little blue-haired brat," Persouf snarled.

Kagami froze, then slowly turned to the wizard, suddenly filled with strength, as the mental attack had stopped. She didn't realize it, but the mental attack hadn't stopped. She had instead stopped it, by sheer willpower, as Persouf had made a terrible mistake.

"If you touch her, I'll kill you."

Her words must have sounded not unlike an approaching thunderstorm. Persouf looked at her. Kagami's eyes had a glint in them that clearly showed that she would show no mercy to whoever threatened the tiny, blue-haired mage. A faint flash of doubt, even fear, could be seen in his eyes as Persouf stared at her and his gaze met Kagami's. Then he was back to his usual self.

"Fools! I'll give you a slow and painful death!"

Persouf spat out the words. He had suffered a defeat already, and he didn't like the feeling at all.

He shouted commands to his mercenaries. Real soldiers, Kagami noticed with a sickening feeling. Not poorly trained farmers or robbers. They followed his orders without delay.

"Archers on my left, swordsmen on the right." Persouf shouted. "We'll use the troll first, it should take care of those amateurs in no time."

He shouted some words in a language Kagami didn't understand, and the troll walked forward. It stopped for a moment and looked around as if searching for something, then noticed a large stone next to the road. It went over with a few long steps and ripped it out of the ground. No! This was getting even worse! The troll knew it was more efficient to smash a magic shield with stones than with fists! It began to run towards them, carrying the large stone in its huge hands.

"Konata!"

Kagami screamed. She held her sword with both hands, pointed towards the troll and prepared for the attack that was sure to come, once the shield was down. There was no way it was going to last for long, being hit with such massive force.

"Trust me," Konata replied. "Now, step aside for a moment!"

She didn't wait for Kagami to act, but gently pushed Kagami aside and was now in front, the opposite of how they usually fought. Persouf shouted to his troll.

"Crush their shield!"

The troll roared and lifted the large stone as it ran towards them. Kagami screamed in terror. Then something happened that Kagami hadn't expected. As the troll hammered the stone against the magic shield, the shield disappeared with a whiff just before the stone was going to hit. The troll stumbled to the ground, confused, when the expected resistance was suddenly gone. As it tried to get up, Konata took a step forward to it, threw her staff aside and folded her hands in front of her with both index fingers pointed towards the troll's chest. For a short moment, the troll stared at her, confused. It was not used to a situation like that. It gaped like a drunken man who tried to get up after falling. Konata smiled her catlike smile, then said a single word with a loud, clear voice.

"Gatecrusher!"

There was a split second of silence, then a very, very bright flash of light and another split-second later, an equally loud bang.

The blast was enourmous. The troll litterally exploded. The huge lightbolt continued through the troll and hit the magic shield Persouf had managed to raise just in time to save his life when he noticed how Konata moved her hands and recognized the type of spell. He was visibly shaken. So were his soldiers. Some of them had thrown themselves on the ground, trying to take cover.

"You said you wanted to see one of Kerrhoum's spells, Kagamin!"

Konata was sweating, but looked very self-assured and pleased with herself. The blast had pushed her backwards, causing her to stumble and sit on her bottom. She got up and brushed some imaginary dust off her robe.

"Late-night cramming does pay off!" Konata smiled, studying her work of destruction.

Kagami was stunned. She had not believed her friend to be able to use a spell of that magnitude. So, apparently, neither had Persouf.

"You scum!"

He hissed like a snake. A voice Kagami found much more suitable for him than the sweet talk earlier. Konata held her fingers up in a V-sign.

"Are you aware how difficult it is to train a troll to that level?" Persouf was in a rage. "Archers! Get the wizard. Swordsmen, take out the warrior! I'll split them up for you."

Kagami suddenly felt herself being grabbed by an invisible hand of gigantic propotions and was hurled through the air towards a group of trees many yards away. She was helpless and screamed. Konata just pointed her left hand at her and a split second later, a magic shield surrounded Kagami. With her right hand, Konata set up a new magic shield just in time to stop the arrows that now hailed against her.

Kagami hit the trees with enough force to break one of them, but was completely unharmed, as the shield took all the damage. Her bow, which she had carried over her back was broken, as some of it had been outside the shield and thus not protected from the impact when she hit the trees.

She stumbled on her legs and threw the broken bow and the quiver away, just in time to parry a violent attack from a broadsword swung by the nearest soldier. There was still a good amount of magic shield left around her, but she knew she had to make it last as long as possible, and that meant parrying as many attacks as possible. She turned his attack away to her right, making him stick the sword into the ground. She quickly stepped on its broad side, which made him loose his balance. She swung her own sword upwards to the left in a gentle swing, slicing his throat. She felt how his blood sprayed over her face as he tried to hold his hands over the wound, but she had already turned to the next soldier, who was rushing towards her. She feinted and he fell for it, her sword found its way in under his right arm, where his armor wasn't covering and punctured his lung. Then the rest of the soldiers had now reached her, and everything became a blur of swords and bodies. Her magic shield took many hits, and it was not easy for her to get a hit on the soldiers, as they did their best to block her movements, but she noticed one go down, then a second and a third. Then a fourth and a fifth. They suddenly broke up and spread out after receiving such heavy losses, which was clearly a mistake on their part, as that allowed her to get some air and get a grasp of the situation. Had they continued, they would have won, but their action was only what most people would do.

Kagami's magic shield was long gone, worn out by the innumerable attacks. Blood ran down her face from a light wound right over her left eyebrow. It was bleeding heavily, but wasn't fatal. She had also received many bruises and hits on her black armour, but the armour was surprisingly strong and hadn't broken, much to the surprise of the soldiers, as well as herself, though it was quite buckled in places. She looked around. Where was Konata?

Konata was fighting against both Persouf and the ten archers – no eight, two were down, but she now needed all her energy to hold up against Persouf alone, and they all knew it. Persouf shouted encouragements to his archers, who continued to shoot at Konatas shield, which was now a combined shield, that could withstand both magic and physical missiles, but was much more demanding to keep up.

Kagami noticed all of this in a split second. She turned towards Konata and began to run. The soldier nearest her tried to get in her way, but Kagami attacked him mercilessly with her long sword and gave him a heavy blow in the chest. He fell to the ground, screaming. There was nobody in front of her, and Kagami ran. Suddenly, Persouf fired a large bolt of red light towards Konata's magic shield, which was more than it could take. Some of the red bolt hit Konata, as did some of the arrows fired by the archers. They weren't aimed at Konata in particular, but hit purely by bad luck. Persouf screamed in delight.

Someone else screamed. Kagami ran towards Persouf screaming, but didn't realize it. She was in a rage. Persouf, who was visibly tired, was very surprised to suddenly see her, having thought for sure his soldiers were more than enough for a girl. Arrows began to fly around her and Persouf began to mumble a spell, but before he could cast it, Kagami had reached him. She jumped over the dead troll and attacked him. He looked at her in utter terror as she came down towards him, her sword high to her left. He raised his right hand, not to cast a spell, but as a simple human gesture, trying to ward off the impending death.

Kagami's sword cut right through his arm and into his neck and right shoulder. He screamed and fell. She raised her sword and hit him again, cleaving his head. She hit him again and again. An arrow hit her in her right shoulder, but only just managed to penetrate the shoulder plate. Kagami felt the arrowhead cut into her shoulder. She looked at the archers with what must have been a very frightening look, as they stopped dead in their tracks. She pulled the arrow out and attacked them, screaming like a banshee.

They panicked. They were only 25 yards away, and she covered the distance in few seconds. None of them got to draw their swords, and they were out of arrows. She mowed through them. They were much lighter armoured than the swordsmen and her sword cut through their leather armour like a scythe through grass. Two got away and ran for their life, as did the three remaining soldiers. They had lost their wizard, their source of income, and most of their comrades. Their morale was broken. Kagami let them run. She stood gasping for breath and fell on her knees. She felt like her entire body was on fire. Blood and sweat ran down her face. She threw up in the grass. She looked towards Konata, then jumped up and ran towards her, all tiredness forgotten.

"Konata"!

Her voice was nothing more than a whisper. She held her friend in her arms, carefully, as if she was made from the most fragile glass. Three arrows stuck out from the tiny body. Two of them were not critical, Kagami noticed with considerable relief, but one was very much so. It had hit Konata's left side, just above the lung. There's a large artery in that area, and if it was hit, things would look bad. She had one arrow in her left leg and one through the right upper arm. Both had not hit either arteries or venes. Kagami held her friend's skinny body in her arms. She was so light, she noticed. Kagami's tears dripped on Konata's face as she whispered her name over and over.

"He, see? We did have a chance!" Konata's voice was very weak, but it was filled with pride.

"Konata!" Kagami could barely see through her wet eyelashes.

"How do I look? Tell me the truth."

Before she could think, Kagami whispered: "You look like shit, Konata!"

Konata closed her eyes and smiled weakly.

"I need a vacation..." she mumbled.

"Konata!"

But Konata was again unconscious.

Kagami laid her friend down and looked around frantically after the horse. She had to get their small package of bandages, magic healing potions and medicine. The horse was nowhere to be seen, scared away by the sight of the troll. She called out for him, and to her endless relief, he responded somewhere in the distance. She ran towards the spot and found him after a few nervous minutes. She ran back with him in tow, he was not used to running around very much, being a pack horse, but sensed the urge and didn't protest.

When she got back to Konata, Kagami picked her up with the greatest care and began to walk towards the forrest.

"We got to get away from the battlefield. It's going to be filled with flies and crows soon, and who knows what else."

Konata didn't respond.

The next hour was a nightmare for Kagami. She had to make a fire without Konata's magic staff. It could ignite almost any wood, wet or dry, but she couldn't use it. Fortunately, she hadn't forgot how to use flint and steel. She cut up some of the mercenaries clothes to bandages, as the ones she had were not enough.

She also had to cut Konatas clothes to be able to cut off the arrows, so she could get them out and the wounds bandaged. Those bastard soldiers had used war arrows with barbs. The arrows in the arm and leg went fairly smoothly, but Kagami didn't dare touch the one above the lung, but only cut off most of the shaft with her knife. She knew the lung very likely wasn't punctured, as Konata could still breathe unhindered, if only weakly. There was also no blood in her mouth or nose. But it would be better to let it stay until they could get more professional help, as she couldn't risk puncturing the lung or cutting the artery. She knew exactly were she needed to go. Only trouble, it was at least two – or more likely, three - days travel on foot.

"I got to get you to the healer's temple in the mountains south of our town," Kagami whispered "or you won't make it."

She carefully daubed Konata's wounds with the magic ointment and gave her all of their magic healing potion. She bandaged her own wound over the left eye and the one in the shoulder as well as she could, but they weren't deep, so she wasn't so worried about them. She had lots of bruises all over her body, but that was nothing to worry about in the current situation.

She couldn't carry Konata all the way to the temple, which was at least two full days away, so she made a sort of primitive sleigh from two birches. It was hitched to the horse's packsaddle and the other end just dragged on the ground behind it. The two birches were kept apart with branches and the tarpaulin strecthed between them. It was like a strecther with only one end carried by the horse, the other end dragging on the ground. Konata was placed as comfortable on the strecther as possible, wrapped in two blankets and tied to the stretcher with a thin rope.

Before they left, Kagami hastily searched the dead soldiers for useful things like money and food. She might need money to buy assistance from people who otherwise would not be eager to help them. She hoped that would not be the case. They were very vulnerable right now, and that was not a good thing to be in this place if you looked like you had anything of value. Kagami's armor was worth about twenty years' harvests for the average peasant and she knew it. The temptation to get rich fast might be stronger than the will to do a good deed. Well, it almost always was, even in times of peace. Much less now, after a harsh winter, she realized when thinking about it.

She took a bow that looked quite good and filled her quiver with arrows. She found some of their purses, but not all. In the end, she got around twenty shillings and five coppers, but nothing edible. She also searched the dead wizard, but he hadn't much on him, apart from some small books and a ring on his left hand. His purse contained around 125 shillings and two gold coins. She took all of it. What she couldn't use, they could sell or give away, to pay for food or shelter.

She then realized that he should have a horse around somewhere! She looked for it, but only found parts of the reins, tied to a tree. It had teared itself loose once the battle begun. She cursed. It would have been very useful. She decided they couldn't wait any longer and left. A cloud obscured the midday sun, giving a moment of comfort. It was an unusually bright and sunny day.


	4. Chapter 4

An old farmer had been hunting in the forrest for a week, while his son took care of the farm. Only yesterday had he been lucky enough to shoot a small deer. He was now heading home, the village being still many miles away. He would be home just by sunset, he judged. Perhaps he could sneak in and get an ale in the inn before going home? He smiled. He had deserved it! And the deer would shut his wife up. Well, probably...

He suddenly noticed something ahead of him on the road. Corpses? Of soldiers? He swiftly moved into the forrest, aware of the dangers corpses bring, because where there's corpes, there are also murderers or soldiers. And as farmers have always known at all times, soldiers bring death, misery and increased taxes. After a while it was clear that these soldiers weren't going to move anytime soon. Everything was quiet, so he moved out and inspected them.

They hadn't been dead for long. A few hours, tops, but the flys were already busy. He looked in their pockets, but they were empty. Someone had been there before him. Darn! He looked at one of them. Nice boots! He put down the deer and pulled off the soldiers boots. He tried them and they fit. Very well, in fact. He gave his old boots to the dead soldier. A man has got to walk in something, even after his death, right? He took a pair of the other boots as well, and found a small folding pocket knife that someone had overlooked. Nice! There was also a dead troll and a rich-looking man that had been hacked down mercilessly. The troll was spread all over the place. Ew! The farmer spat on it. He had seen some things when he served as a soldier in the imperial wars, but this was nasty. It was the first time he saw a troll this close. Something interesting had happened here!

There was nothing on the rich-looking guy either, he had been thoroughly searched. His costly robe and other clothes were covered in blood and dirt, and not worth taking now. The farmer turned around, picked up his deer and bow, and began to walk homeward again. The boots fit perfectly, he noticed with a smile.

* * *

The tall blonde ranger sat in the corner of the small inn. It was hot outside and inside, even if it was near sunset, but there were fewer flies inside and the ale was cold. She let her legs up on the table and looked through the mostly empty inn and out through the open door. The view was not very interesting. All she could see was a bit of a wall on the other side of the muddy street and part of a tree. She sighed and drank the last of her ale. She had been feeling very uneasy since last evening and had hardly slept. She also knew why, though she tried to deny it.

Her young apprentice and the apprentice's wizard friend had been away for more than two weeks now. They had told her they needed to check out a small cave on in a canyon on the eastern side of a small mountain about ten miles from the town. It wasn't going to be more than three or four days. She had followed their route, only to discover they never went to the cave in the first place, but had changed their route and target after getting a map from a merchant they had saved from a gang of robbers. She had almost knocked the merchant uncounscious after she finally got him to tell where the map could take them: Kerrhoum's tower of all places. To make matters worse, the merchant didn't have another map so she had tried to follow his vague instructions and was soon hopelessly lost. She now found herself sitting in a small inn in a small village named something with willows and a pond or something. She didn't care. She sighed again. The nervousness was as strong as ever, as was her impatience.

She turned to the bar, where a young girl was filling some mugs with ale.

"Gimme another one. Cold, please."

"Yes master Kuroi!"

Nanako Kuroi took another gulp of her ale and put the mug down on the table and tried again to come up with an idea of whom to ask for directions or get an idea of where to head. Where on earth were Kagami and Konata?

She continued to look out the door. An old farmer suddenly entered the bar, letting a deer and a bow slide off his shoulders next to the door. He looked at the bar with a big smile, but whether it was from the sight of the curvy back of the young girl who was cutting slices of a large bread or the barrels of ale lined against the wall, Nanako couldn't tell. Perhaps both.

"Oi! Barmaid Nana! A large mug of cold ale. I have walked long and hard today."

"Can you pay for it, Jugo? The young girl looked sternly at the farmer. "Your debt is already up to five coppers"

"Certainly!" He slammed a shilling on the desk.

The other farmers in the inn suddenly stopped talking and all looked at him. The barmaid quickly picked up the coin, as if she was afraid that old Jugo should perhaps change his decision to pay his debt.

"Ho! So old Jugo suddenly have money for ale! Then you can pay me back the three shillings on that loan you took last spring, right?"

A large man who wore slightly finer clothes than the other farmers looked on old farmer Jugo. The old farmer turned to the big man. He walked over to him, reached for his purse and slammed three shillings to the table in front of the surprised man.

"Sure I can! Old Jugo always pay his debt! Always!"

Nanako watched the scene with some interest, as it was the only mildly entertaining thing she had seen after entering the village, but remained quiet in her corner.

"Now, old Jugo," the large man looked at Jugo with a somewhat puzzled look in his face. "How on earth can it be, you suddenly have so much cash?"

"I sold a pair of boots."

"Say what? A pair of boots? A pair of farmers boots certainly can't be worth four shilling?"

"Of course not! I got five! And who ever mentioned anything about farmers boots? I am talking about REAL boots, made from the finest leather, like these, not from an old, dead cow."

He pointed at his feet. Now they all noticed what they hadn't before. Jugo wore a pair of extremely well-made, heavy walking boots. Soldiers boots. Nanako sat up. Things were getting more interesting now. Where had he found those?

"Where did you get those?" The large man looked at old Jugo.

"About eight miles to the east. There had been a fight, and I took a few souveneirs. The previous owners didn't need them anymore!"

"Looting from the dead!" The large man frowned. "Aren't you afraid of their revenge?"

Jugo laughed. "You didn't have those respectful feelings during the second imperial war! From what I recall, you even took the gold teeth from the dead. Both enemies and allies."

The large man paled. "Where – Where did you hear that?"

From his reaction, what Jugo had revealed was obviously true, and the other farmers took note of that. If you're an impoverished peasant with debts, it's always nice to have some dirty information on someone. Especially if you own that someone money.

"That's my secret to keep!" From the look on his face, Jugo very much enjoyed the situation.

One of the other farmers turned to Jugo. "Your words suggest that there had been a large fight. Weren't there more than two pair of boots?"

"Of course, but I couldn't carry more than one extra pair when I also had to carry the deer and I needed to get home before sunset."

"How many did you count?"

"Hmm. Let me see now."

He counted on his fingers. The others noticed that he first used one hand, then the other. Their eyebrows began to raise when he started over on the first hand. They waited in silence for Jugo to finish.

"Hmm. I think there was fourteen – no, wait – fifteen dead mercenaries."

"Fifteen!" They all called out in disbelief. "Mercenaries? Not highway robbers?"

"Aye, those were mercenaries for sure. Seemed to be have been good ones as well, judging from their weapons and armor. Oh, wait! I forgot to count the rich looking guy and the troll."

"A TROLL!"

The farmers almost fell over. Few had ever seen one, but all had heard of them. Killing one was almost unbelievable to them.

"I have heard only a wizard can keep one tamed," one of them whispered, "and it is almost certain you need to be a wizard to kill one if you don't have a hundred men with you!"

Nanako jumped from her chair and reached old Jugo in two steps. She grabbed his shoulder and he turned around with a frightened look in his face. The other farmers also looked at her with a mix of respect and fear, but they were not the center of her interest and they knew. Old Jugo's throat felt dry. He was suddenly at the center of interest of someone in charge of something, which is almost never a good position for a peasant.

"Wh- what ca- can I..."

"Where exactly did you find the dead mercenaries?" Nanako looked at him intensely.

* * *

Kagami had found the trail leading to the healer's temple. To their incredible luck, the map she had bought in the inn showed a route to the Temple of Healing that connected to the road where they had been ambushed. It was just a few miles near the village. It was narrow, and had not been so easy to see, but the map clearly indicated that the trail started just west of a rock formation near a stream, and so it was. They were going uphill again. The temple was located in the mountains southeast of their hometown.

She was walking as fast as she and the horse could. She had done so for hours, ever since the battle. She was oblivious to anything happening around her and walked as if in a trance. Her only thought was to reach the temple before Konata's time ran out. Suddenly the horse stopped. Kagami looked up. The sun had set and it was getting darker already. She looked back and saw that the horse was covered in sweat from going uphill for hours.

She realized that she needed to find dry wood for the fire and had to cook something for Konata to eat, if she could. She looked around and noticed a small pond between some large rocks, not far from the trail, a little downhill to the right. A stroke of luck! She tied the horse to a tree next to the pond and it drank for a long time. Kagami noticed how thirsty she was, but was also all too aware of how little time she had to find some firewood before darkness fell.

She was very lucky and found a couple of hazel bushes, whose branches remain standing even after dying, keeping dry except during very extended periods of rain. They are also thin and easy to break, so you don't need an axe. Kagami quickly gathered a bunch of them and stumbled back to the pond. The horse stood still, shaking with cold from all the sweating. It had to be covered with something to keep it warm, or it might get sick, which was something she couldn't afford right now.

She quickly lifted Konata off the stretcher and placed her as comfortably she could, then unloaded the horse and covered him with the old tarpaulin. She gave him the last few handfulls of oats she had for him, then began to make a fire. She had her flint and steel, but it took a few attempts to get the fire to catch. She was out of practice, they had both come to rely too much on Konata's magic staff recently.

The only edible thing she had was one last stone bread. She realized with a sinkening feeling that the mercenaries that had attacked them probably had ample provisions for a week in the wilderness. She had searched them for money, but had forgot to search the surroundings. They had probably hid their supplies near to where they attacked them. What a mistake! She could buy them a banquet in a fine restaurant in one of the coastal towns, but she hadn't seen a single person or even a house all day. She had contemplated walking to the village to the west, but she was sure, there would not be anyone there that could help them. She took their old copper pot and began to boil the stone bread with water to a porridge.

"Konata, hey Konata! Wake up, food's ready." Kagami very gently stroke her friend over her chin and hair as she spoke.

It took a little while, but somehow, Konata woke up from her uncounscieness.

"Food?" The voice was very weak.

Kagami choked back her tears. "Yeah, I've cooked some porridge for you!"

"Water!" Konata asked.

Kagami realized she hadn't been able to get Konata consciouness enough to get her to drink anything before now, so she quickly reached for the pot she had filled with water from a small spring that ran out into the pond. Konata drank a little, but not as much as Kagami had hoped.

"So cold," she whispered.

"Here, try some of the hot porridge!" Kagami held up the spoon to Konata's lips.

"Open up!"

Konata did as she was told and Kagami carefully fed her with the spoon.

"Ugh!" she mumbled and made a face. "Kagami's cooking is terrible, as usual!"

"Oh, Konata..." Kagami felt the tears from before coming back. This time she couldn't stop them. Even Konata's insults was the sweetest words she had ever heard.

* * *

Nanako cursed her impatience as darkness fell over the forest. She hadn't even reached the battlefield yet, but the Moon was high in a clear evening sky, so she continued. Horses have excellent night vision, so as long as she could see the narrow road, the horse could so as well. After another hour in gallop, she noticed the bodies on the road ahead. She stopped her horse and walked the last few yards on foot.

What a mess! This had been one intense battle for sure. Several trees around the place were either broken or splintered by magic missiles. She noticed a place where the grass was scorched and burned. Hundreds of arrows were strewn around. And there was the troll, or what was left of it. The farmer had told the truth. Next to it, she found the body of what she assumed was the rich man old Jugo had told them about. His face and upper torso was a mess of blood, his face was cleaved in several places, as was his torso. He was utterly unrecognisable. If it was someone Nanako knew about, she wasn't able to tell.

She looked around. Bodies everywhere. She walked around and counted. Yup, fifteen mercenaries, plus the troll and a guy in a costly robe. She took a close look at him. Yup, that was a wizard for sure, and a wealthy one to boot. He must have been the one that had hired the mercenaries. But why? And why this battle? She began to wonder what had actually happened here. She looked around again and noticed something about how the bodies of the mercenaries were placed. In two groups, with the archers in a line, fairly close to the wizard, and almost all the swordsmen about fifty yards away.

The troll was lying in front of the scorched grass. Almost all the arrows were lying in a half-circle to the left of the burned grass. From the numbers of arrows, divided by the number of dead archers, each must have carried three full quivers. Nanako realized that they had been fighting two enemies at once, and that one had been a swordfighter and the other a wizard. She felt as if her heart was crushed by a mountain of ice. Could it be...? A cloud passed in front of the moon and suddenly it was pitch black. She cursed and swore. She was stranded here and had to wait for dawn. She could just glimpse the horse as the clouds parted for a moment and stumbled back to it. She had to find a place to rest for the night.

* * *

Kagami was completely exhausted, yet she couldn't sleep. She had wrapped Konata up in all their blankets, to keep her warm and now only had the fire and her armor to keep herself warm. She had hastily arranged the tarpaulin tent as near to the fire as she dared and placed Konata in it. She sat down in the tent nearest the fire, to keep an eye on it and stay warm. The old horse also slept, leaning against a tree next to the pond. Konata was beginning to get a high fever. This was bad. Tomorrow was going to be very bad. She had to get to the healer's temple as fast as she could, but she wasn't even sure how far it was. She had never traveled to it from this side of the mountains. Despite her many worries, she began to doze off and soon slept, sitting at Konata's feet, her sword in her lap.


	5. Chapter 5

LS fanfic Chapter 5:

The pursuers

* * *

Konata couldn't see anything at all. Everything was pitch black. No, wait! There was a small light in the distance. It seemed so warm, so inviting. She floated towards it and through it. She landed on a flowery meadow. The air was filled with the sweet smell of flowers and grass. She laughed. What a wonderful place! Suddenly, she saw a figure in the distance. A woman, she figured, judging from her silhouette. She thought she looked familiar. She began to walk towards the woman, then she recognized her.

"Mom!" Konata ran towards her as fast as she could.

Konata's mother, Kanata, smiled, but held her hand up in front of her.

"No, Konata! Don't come any further. If you touch me, you will have crossed the line between life and death and have accepted death."

Konata stopped. Death. She didn't want to die.

"Mom," she cried, "I want to be with you! I have missed you for so many years!"

Kanata smiled.

"There's someone else who needs you now and who will miss you dearly if you choose to be with me now. Have you forgot your friend Kagami? She's calling for you at this very moment. She wants you back. Listen."

A faint voice could be heard in the air. It called Konata's name over and over again. Konata looked around, but couldn't see anyone else. The voice was undoubtedly Kagami's. Her voice was filled with sorrow and yearning. How could she have forgotten about Kagami, her best friend? No, she was much more than just a friend and Konata had realized that a while ago.

"Kagami, I am coming," she whispered. "Just a moment.."

"Mom" Konata looked at her mother through the tears. "Will you be waiting for me?"

"I have waited for a while, but not nearly long enough. Your life isn't over yet. Go back to your friend who loves you. I will be watching you from here."

Konata took a final look at her mother, smiled, and began to run away from her as she called Kagami's name. She was suddenly back in the blackness. She called for Kagami, and as if she heard her, she called out again:

"Konata! Come back to me! Please!"

There was a new light in the distance. She floated towards it.

* * *

"Konata, please come back. Please!" Kagami whispered the sentence over and over again. "Please come back. Please! Konata! Please...Please...!"

Konata opened her eyes, but it was still pitch black. Had she not floated through the light again? Was she still dead? Something hit her face. A drop of water. She felt another one hitting her right chin. It ran down to her lips. It tasted Salty. Someone was crying... Kagami, Konata realized.

"Konata! Konata! Wake up! Don't die on me!"

She almost screamed. Her face was very close to Konata's and Kagami held her in her arms.

"I am right here...." Konata found that she could just barely whisper.

"Konata," Kagami gasped. "Konata!"

"Water..."

Konata whispered. She had to repeat it a few times before the crying Kagami heard it. She put Konata down carefully and grabbed the small pot and ran to the small spring in the pond. When she got back, she steadied Konata's back so she could drink. She drank more this time than last, Kagami noticed. A lot more. She still had a high fever. Kagami kept hugging Konata, as if she would disappear if she let go. Konata had never seen Kagami being so protective of her before. Even if she was on the verge of being unconsious, she felt a warm glow inside, when she realized how good she felt being hugged by Kagami. It gave her strength.

"What happened," she asked with a faint voice. "Did I pass out or something?"

"You died. You stopped breathing. I called for you forever. I really thought I had lost you."

"I remember now. I was with my mother. I heard you calling."

"What? Don't make fun of me now!" Kagami's voice was on the verge of cracking.

"I am not. Really."

Konata felt another drop of salty water on her face. And another.

"You're such a crybaby, y'know," she whispered to Kagami, but the only response was more tears.

* * *

Nanako woke up as the first birds began to chirp. The sun wasn't up yet, but it was getting brighter and she could see quite clearly even down here in the dense forrest. She got up and looked around. She had slept under a pine tree, rolled in her blanket, having not had enough light to put up her tent in the evening. She picked out a loaf of bread she had bought in the inn and cut a thick slice with her knife. She took a bit and began to cut a slice of a cheese she had also bought. She would not waste time on making a fire, so she drank cold water to it, instead of making tea as she usually did. After the simple meal, she took another look at the battlefield.

It looked even worse in daylight than at night. The two who had fought all those opponents had put up a truly impressive fight. But where were they now? She hoped they weren't wounded, but looking at the battlefield gave her little reason for optimism. She walked over to where the dead wizard lay. She had figured that he must have been their main opponent, but how would he have thought?

She tried to put herself in his place. First, attack the opponents with the troll. No, wait, an ambush is better against another wizard, and the big scorched spot in the grass suggested that the other wizard, Nanako assumed it was Konata, had managed to set up a shield in time, so the ambush had apparently failed. Only then had the wizard tried to use the troll as a shield-breaker. But it had been killed, and if she read the wounds correctly - she was no mage, but the troll was almost in two pieces, so, well, she didn't need to be to tell the cause of death - with a huge one-shot blast of lightning. Was Konata even able to use that kind of spell? She could use fire and small lightning bolts, as well as magic shields, but anything of this magnitude? And then the enemy wizard had been forced to use several archers to repeatedly attack the shield as well as bombarding it himself, using magic missiles. The repeated attacks with fireballs had set the grass on fire. She walked over to where the other part of the fight had been taking place.

Seven bodies lay in the grass and among the trees. Some had crawled a short distance before dying from their wounds. All had been taken out with a sword, she noticed, but because some had moved, she couldn't tell who had been hit first. She looked around again. How come the wizard and the warrior had been so far from each other? Why did they split up? Had this been the enemy mage's work? How? She couldn't tell.

A small tree had been broken about six yards from the ground, as if hit by some object with considerable force. Nanako curiously investigated it, but it had no signs of being scorched or otherwise hit by a magic missile. There was no stone or other object behind it that looked as if it had been thrown to here from somewhere over where the wizard had stood, at least from where he stood in his last moments. There wasn't any blood either. Nanako was puzzled. Her foot got tangled in something, a blackberry vine, perhaps. She looked down. A string of some kind had got around her left boot. She bend down and tried to remove it and then noticed it was a bowstring, since one end was still attached to a piece of the bow. Something inside her began to feel very cold. She recognised that bow. She had helped its owner to make it. Nanako felt as if she was being strangled at the same time as she fell into an endless abyss. Now she knew who had hit those trees. There could no longer be any doubt as to who had fought here or how they had been separated from each other in the fight...

* * *

Nanako was on the verge of panic as she ran back to her horse, who stood tied to a tree next to the road. Now she was certain that it was Konata and Kagami who had caused the massive mess around her, but were had they gone? Into the forest? Unlikely. To the east? No, if so, that would have indicated that they had been coming from the west, were she came from and the villagers hadn't seen them. Besides, to the east was just mountains and forests. But she hadn't met them yesterday, so they couldn't have walked westward either! She ran a hand through her hair. She was getting desperate! There had been something she had overlooked. There had to be! She began walking around on the battlefield again, but so many people had been running around in the grass, it was impossible to make any sense of it. Then she suddenly heard something. A faint song, coming from somewhere down the road to the east. She hid behind some bushes next to the road. Her knife found its way into her hand. She then noticed that her horse was still tied to the tree near the road. She cursed as all this mess was getting her totally out of balance!

Nanako didn't have to wait for long before she saw an old woman coming up the road. She was singing a song to herself, which is an old trick to keep bears and wolves away. She had a thin staff in her right hand. She came around the faint curve and noticed the horse. She had stopped just next to the bush Nanako was hiding in.

"Oh!" The old woman said.

_Damn_, Nanako thought. _If I jump out, she'll die on the spot from heart attack!_ Fortunately for Nanako's peace of mind, the old woman walked up towards the horse a little, but then noticed the soldiers.

"Uh!" She said. She poked one of them with her staff.

"Hmm. Stiff and dead. A good mercenary! Nothing good comes from these when they're alive!"

Nanako had to agree with her on that. She stepped out from the bush.

"Hello," she said.

The old woman swiftly turned towards her with her staff pointed right at Nanako, which made her jump a little. She held her arms up with her palms faced towards the old woman.

"Easy, easy! I mean no harm!"

"A pretty young lady out here in this wilderness. On the battlefield, even, judging from that sword. Is this your work young miss?"

"No, but I have reason to believe I know who did it."

"Oh, i see." She looked at Nanako with a pair of very piercing eyes. "And now you can't find your friends?"

"Yes, exactly."

Kuroi found the old woman surprisingly sharp. Perhaps she could help her, if she knew the roads and trails around here. She was certainly old enough to know them all, if she had been living here all her life.

"Perhaps you could help me, please?" Kuroi asked the old woman. "Do you have any idea of where they might have gone? I came from the village to the west and haven't seen them, and to the east is only wilderness for a distance of several days."

"Incorrect!" The old woman said. "To the east I live, in my small castle."

Nanako assumed she was talking ironically of a small shed or house in the forrest.

"Besides," the old woman continued, "there's mage Kerrhoum's old tower, though he's not counted among the living anymore and the tower is abandoned."

Nanako cursed to herself. That tower! That was exactly a place those two daredevils could want to check out. Especially Konata! Damn her recklessness! Damn that merchant and his bloody map!

"Kerrhoum's tower!" Nanako said, "I thought it had fallen apart many years ago." She hoped....

"Well," the old woman continued, "it was almost fully intact when I was around the place last year!"

Nanako cursed heavily inside. So much for that hope...

"But," the old woman didn't wait for Nanako to answer, "if your friends have been involved in this," she pointed the staff towards the bunch of dead mercenaries, "they should likely be headed were I'm currently headed myself: The Temple of Healing."

"The Temple of Healing! But can you get to it from this side of the mountains? I was not aware of that!"

Nanako suddenly saw a faint glow of hope.

"Oh yes, you can. There is a narrow trail leading from this road, over the mountain to the south of it. You have passed the trail yesterday as you rode to here. It is about an hour from here on horseback, on your left side, if you head back westward."

"Why didn't the villagers tell me about it? I asked them about the roads and trails around this area?"

"If you're talking about the village down the road, then they probably prefer to take the much less difficult route of first going to town and then the main road to the south and then the road to the temple, but your friends may be in a hurry and decided to go over the mountain. Fortunate for them, it isn't winter and the mountain isn't one of the worst. The trail is pretty good. I use it myself. The villagers probably have forgot about it. They never travel much in this direction in the first place."

Nanako grabbed the old womans hand.

"Thanks! I am sure they must be headed that way as you described. I will try and catch up with them. Take this as a token of my gratitude!"

She reached for her purse and gave the old woman a shilling.

"Oh," she said and looked carefully at the coin, as if it was something that had just fallen from the moon. Nanako ran to her horse and jumped into the saddle.

"Goodbye, and again, thanks!"

She waved her right hand, then turned the horse and galloped down the road.

"Hmpf!" The old woman looked at Nanako, who disappeared in a cloud of dust.

"Young people are so impatient! Well, I hope she finds her friends."

She looked around the battlefield, then noticed the big troll.

"Uh! Foul beast! Haven't seen one of those in a long time! I'm glad it's dead. Young miss's friends must be quite strong! Hu, hu!"

She walked over to it and looked at it, poking it with the staff.

"Hu, hu! A powerfull lightning blast! Not bad, not bad! One of the two is a mage, and a quite good one! And what have we here? The owner?" She looked at the dead wizard.

"Yes, indeed! Hu, hu! He made a bigger bread than he could bake, hu, hu! I wonder who he was? Must be coming from the big town, wearing such fine clothes!"

She giggled to herself, not in the least intimidated by the gore, flies and blood. She took a closer look at the black robe of the dead wizard. Then stopped laughing.

"Persouf!" She looked at him again, but there was no doubt.

"So you did get someone to walk into the tower after you came to see me, but they were strong enough to kill you and your pet troll? Now I better understand this battlefield. Hu, hu, hu! Now I would sure like to see who they are!"

She began to walk westward with a speed you wouldn't normally expect of an old woman.


End file.
